I have a 99 explorer with the intermitant rear wiper syndrome. I believe it is the hatch glass safety switch. Can I just jumped the switch connections to eliminate it? I'm not worried about hitting the rear wiper switch by accident.

 

There are 3 switches that all need to be closed (I think) in order to enable the rear wiper. There's a left liftgate ajar switch, a right liftgate ajar switch, and a liftgate wiper disable switch. It appears all 3 switches go to the same input of the Generic Electronic Module, so I'm not sure if that means 3 wires in to one terminal or if that means that you will have 1 of the 3 switches. Normally the service manual diagrams are quite good at identifying if any of the switches or wires are optional based on features/options of the vehicle. No such nomenclature on this diagram.

As to whether bypassing this will fix the issue or if you have the skills necessary to bypass the switch, I'm not able to answer if you "can do this".

-Rod

 

Subscribed…my wife has given up complaining about the rear wiper. I just make it a point to keep the rear wind clean.